1. Results of the ArcFUEL
methodology achieved in
Southern Spain
ArcFUEL Final Workshop, 18/12/2013, Thessaloniki
“Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
Ana Sebastián López
GMV - Isaac Newton, 11; P.T.M. Tres Cantos, E-28760 Madrid
Tel.: +34 91 807 21 00, Email: asebastian@gmv.com
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
18 December 2013, Aristotle University Research Dissemination Center, Thessaloniki, Greece
1

2. GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FOR THE SPACE MARKET
GMV INNOVATING
SOLUTIONS

3. GENERAL ABOUT GMV
 Multinational conglomerate
founded in 1984
 Private capital
 Offices in Spain, Portugal,
Poland, USA, Germany,
Romania, France, Malaysia,
and India
 Over 1,000 employees all
over the world
 Roots tied to the Space and
Defense industries
 Currently operating in
Aeronautics, Space,
Defense, Security,
Transportation, Healthcare
and ICT industries.
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

4. GMV IN THE WORLD
Conglomerate of 11 operating subsidiaries and a
holding company.
 Customers in 5 continents
 Permanent staff in 10 countries


SPAIN
MADRID – HEADQ.
VALLADOLID
SEVILLE
BARCELONA
VALENCIA
CANARY ISLANDS
LEON
ZARAGOZA

PORTUGAL

USA

GERMANY

FRANCE

POLAND

ROMANIA

MALAYSIA

INDIA
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

5. INDUSTRIES








Aeronautics
Space
Defense
Security
Healthcare
Transportation
Telecommunications
Public Sector and Corporate
ICT
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

6. GMV IN THE SPACE SECTOR
SATELLITE GROUND SEGMENT SYSTEMS
#1 Worldwide as independent Satellite Control Centre provider to
commercial telecom operators
 +230 Satellite missions worldwide have used GMV technology
 Main European supplier of critical GNSS ground components
 #3 as Galileo system developer

CUSTOMERS:
Space Agencies
 Satellite Operators
 Main manufacturers

QUALITY:

CMMI Level 5
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

7. Results of the ArcFUEL
methodology achieved
in Southern Spain
Study area
Data inputs
Methods
Validation
Discussion
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
18 December 2013, Aristotle University Research Dissemination Center, Thessaloniki, Greece
7

8. STUDY AREA
SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES
 Biosphere Reserve & Natural
Biosphere Reserve & Natural
Park
Park
 Western area of Málaga,
Western area of Málaga,
Andalusia
Andalusia
 Highest elevation peak at
Highest elevation peak at
1919 m
1919 m
 AOI covering 20.163 ha
AOI covering 20.163 ha
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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9. STUDY AREA
SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES
 Limestone mountains with rugged relief
 Spanish fir forests in cool, moist shady areas (botanical
relic of the glacial period on the Iberian Peninsula)
 Holm oak and cork trees in lower areas, along with some
areas of carob and chestnut trees.
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

10. DATA INPUTS





ASTER GDEM
Landsat TM5
Corine Land Cover
JRC Forest Types and Cover Types
Local Land cover & Vegetation data
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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11. METHODS
A-FUEL TYPE CLASSIFICATION
1. IMAGE PRE-PROCESSING
 DEM processing
 Atmospheric correction
1. VEGETATION INDICES COMPUTATION
2. CLASSIFICATION
B-FUEL PARAMETERS MATCHING
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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12. Main classes
Main classes
A-FUEL TYPE
CLASSIFICATION
Datasetsource
Dataset source
Broadleaved
Broadleaved
JRC Forest type 2006
JRC Forest type 2006
Coniferous
Coniferous
JRC Forest type 2006
JRC Forest type 2006
Grasses&& Shrubs
Grasses Shrubs
(Surface fuels)
(Surface fuels)
EO
EO
The remaining area after the other main classes areare mapped
The remaining area after the other main classes mapped
Ground fuels
Ground fuels Corine Land Cover Cover
Corine Land
PeatPeat bogs
bogs
marshes
Salt Salt marshes
Salines
Salines
Azonic fuels
Azonic fuels
Corine Land Cover Cover
Corine Land
Interdidal flats flats
Interdidal
Inland marshes
Inland marshes
Water courses
Water courses
Discontinuous urban
Discontinuous urban fabricfabric
Green urban
Green urban areasareas
Non-irrigated arable land land
Non-irrigated arable
EO
EO
Permanently irrigated
Permanently irrigated land land
Non w ildland fuels
Non w ildland fuels Corine Land Cover Cover
Corine Land
Vineyards
Vineyards
Fruit trees and and berry plantations
Fruit trees berry plantations
Olive groves
Olive groves
Annual crops associated w ith
Annual crops associated w ith permanent crops
permanent crops
Complex cultivation patterns
Complex cultivation patterns
Sport leisure facilities
Sport and and leisure facilities
No fuels
No fuels
Corine Land Cover Cover
Corine Land
Agroforestry Corine Land Cover Cover
Corine Land
Agroforestry
No
No fuelsfuels
Agroforestry
Agroforestry
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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13. METHODS
A-FUEL TYPE –ORIENTED VEGETATION
CLASSIFICATION
1-Image pre-processing
1. Mosaic 1ºx1º ASTER GDEM files
 New Raster tool of Arcgis 9.3
1. Re-project to UTM WGS84 zone 30 North
2. Merge Landsat TM scenes into a single stack
 ENVI “Layer Stacking tool”
1. Generate DEM-derived products
 Slope and Aspect (ENVI)
 Skyview and Shadow raster (ATCOR)
1. Perform ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION
2. Perform Landsat mosaic and clip AOI
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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14. ASTER Mosaicking
Atmospheric correction
14
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”

15. METHODS
A-FUEL TYPE –ORIENTED
VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION
2- Vegetation indices computation
1. NDVI is calculated for each Landsat-5 TM scene
 2nd Feb. & 5th May 2011
1. Image subtraction: [NDVI
-NDVIwinter ]
summer
3.Image masking: using the land cover classes
“Broadleaved”, “Coniferous” and “Mixed Forest”
4.Image masking: using the land cover classes
“Shrubs and grasslands”.
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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16. METHODS
A - FUEL TYPE
CLASSIFICATION
3- Image
classification
ISODATA Unsupervised
classification over the
difference image
Masking:
 “Broadleaved”, “Coniferous” &
“Mixed Forest”
 “Shrubs and grasslands”.
[NDVI summer-NDVIwinter ]
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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17. METHODS
A - FUEL TYPE CLASSIFICATION
3- Refinement
 Density cover (JRC cover types map)
 Merge of all the produced map layers in a single
layer:
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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18. Fuel Class
ha
%
Broadleaved Evergreen Scrub
17,63
1,08
Broadleaved Evergreen Open
0,16
0,01
31,90
1,96
Broadleaved Deciduous Scrub
9,98
0,61
Broadleaved Deciduous Open
0,03
0,00
Broadleaved Deciduous Dense
22,52
1,39
Coniferous Evergreen Scrub
Coniferous Evergreen Open
55,58
5,57
3,42
0,34
Coniferous Evergreen Dense
340,51
20,95
Coniferous Deciduous Scrub
Coniferous Deciduous Open
7,31
0,49
0,45
0,03
Broadleaved Evergreen Dense
Coniferous Deciduous Dense
13,64
0,84
Mixed Evergreen Scrub
1,68
0,10
Mixed Evergreen Open
0,01
0,00
Mixed Evergreen Dense
2,11
0,13
Mixed Deciduous Scrub
0,27
0,02
Mixed Deciduous Open
0,00
0,00
Mixed Deciduous Dense
0,41
0,02
Shrubs
682,43 41,98
Grassess
94,64
5,82
Ground Fuels
0,00
0,00
Azonic Fuels
0,18
0,01
Non Wildland Fuels
279,29
17,18
Non Fuel
57,25
3,52
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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19. VALIDATION
VALIDATION APPROACH
 GIS layers -based validation
VALIDATION PLAN:
1ST iteration  validating the discrimination between
deciduous and evergreen species. This was done
using the field plots from the National Forest Inventory.
2nd iteration  validating the discrimination of
vegetation assemblages. This was done using the
information on vegetation assemblages contained in
SIOSE (1:10.000) and the Vegetation Map of Andalusia
(1:10.000).
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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20. VALIDATION
1ST iteration
 Deciduous
VS
Evergreen.
 3rd National
Forest
Inventory
 Training area
 Plots every
1kmx1km
 Total of 163
IFN3 plots
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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21. VALIDATION
1ST iteration  Deciduous VS Evergreen spp.
 3rd National Forest Inventory
 Training area
 Plots every 1kmx1km
 Total of 163 IFN3 plots
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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22. VALIDATION
1ST iteration
 Shrubs VS
Grasslands
 3rd National
Forest
Inventory
 Training area
 Plots every
1kmx1km
 Total of 163
IFN3 plots
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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23. VALIDATION
2nd iteration  SOURCES:
i) The LUCAS (Land Use / Cover Area Frame Statistical
Survey) dataset (2009 campaign)
 Multipurpose field survey that estimates the area occupied
by different LULC types on the basis of observations taken
at more than 250.000 sample points throughout the EU.
ii) The Integrated product (1:10.000, 2005)
 “SIOSE” (LULC map of Spain) +
 “Vegetation map of Andalucía”
iii) Aerial orthophotos 2008
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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24. VALIDATION
2nd iteration 
The Integrated product (1:10.000)
“SIOSE” plus “Vegetation map of Andalucía” (2005)
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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25. VALIDATION
2nd iteration
A) Selection of valid plots The following
LUCAS plots were eliminated


Plots close to 2 or more Arcfuel classes border
Plots showing incoherence  examined individually
When LUCAS differed from the SIOSE, priority was given to the latter
(higher detail).
B) Validation
1. Over the sub-sample of valid LUCAS plots
2. For each valid plot the information among the different
sources was compared, and correctly classified plots and
errors were labeled accordingly.
3. Basic statistics were derived per ArcFuel fuel type class
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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26. LUCAS  ArcFUEL
LC1
A11
A13
A21
A22
B11
B12
B13
B14
B15
B16
B23
B31
B34
B37
B41
B42
B43
B74
B75
B76
B77
B81
B82
C10
C20
C30
D10
D20
E10
E20
E30
F00
LUCAS LEGEND (LC1)
Buildings with 1 to 3 floors
Greenhouses
Non built up area features
Non built up linear features
Common wheat
Durum wheat
Barley
Rye
Oats
Maize
Other root crops
Sunflower
Cotton
Other non permanent industrial crops
Dry pulses
Tomatoes
Other fresh vegetables
Nuts trees
Other fruit trees and berries
Oranges
Other citrus fruit
Olive groves
Vineyards
Broadleaved forest
Coniferous forest
Mixed forest
Shurbland with sparse tree cover
Shurbland without tree cover
Grassland with sparse tree/shrub cover
Grassland without tree/shrub cover
Spontaneously vegetated surfaces
Bare land
ARCF
ID
1
2
ARCFUEL FUEL TYPES
Broadleaved Evergreen Scrub
Broadleaved Evergreen Open
3
Broadleaved Evergreen Dense
4
Broadleaved Deciduous Scrub
5
Broadleaved Deciduous Open
6
Broadleaved Deciduous Dense
7
8
Coniferous Evergreen Scrub
Coniferous Evergreen Open
9
Coniferous Evergreen Dense
10
Mixed Evergreen Scrub
OK
C10
D10
E10
OK
OK-
OK
C10
D10
E10
OK
OK
OK
C10
D10
B74
OK
OK-
OK
C10
E10
B74
OK
OK
C10
B74
OK
OK
C20
D10
OK
OK-
OK
C20
D10
E10
OK
C10
OK
Coniferous Deciduous Dense
13
OK-
Coniferous Deciduous Open
12
OK
Coniferous Deciduous Scrub
11
LUCAS CLASSES
14
Mixed Evergreen Open
15
Mixed Evergreen Dense
16
Mixed Deciduous Scrub
C20
OK
OK
C30
D10
OK
OK-
OK
C30
D10
E10
OK
C30
OK
OK
C30
D10
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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27. VALIDATION
2nd iteration steps
1. Selection of valid plots
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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28. VALIDATION
2nd iteration 
 Entire AOI (Córdoba and Málaga)
 SIOSE & Vegetation map integrated
product: 2005
 CORINE Land cover: 2006
 JRC Forest Types: 2006
 LUCAS: 2009
 Arcfuel classification based on
Landsat TM scenes: 2011
Correct
Classific
%
classifi
errors
corre
ct
Broadleaves
0
1
0%
Deciduous Scrub
Broadleaves
4
0
100
Evergreen
Dense
Coniferous
%
0
2
0%
25
1
96%
8
98
4
11
67%
90%
Deciduous
Dense
Coniferous
Evergreen

Of the 1442 LUCAS plots
 1198 were identified as “non-pure”
plots and thus were eliminated by
using a the 50m radius criterion.
 73 plots were eliminated on a oneby-one basis.
Dense
Grasses
Shrubs

Remaining 171 valid plots:
 136 of them were correctly
classified (80%)
 35 were errors (20%).
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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29. ARCFUEL FUEL TYPE SCHEME
Vegetation description
ECOREGIONS
0
Ground fuels
Ground fuels
ALL
1
Mediterranean grasslands and steppes
Grasses
10,11,12,13,14
,15
2
Northern, Alpine and Temperate
grasslands
Grasses
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,
9
3
Deciduous broadleaved shrubs
Shrubs Deciduous
ALL
4
Evergreen Mediterranean shrublands
Shrubs Evergreen Medium &
Dense
10,11,12,13,14
,15
5
Northern, Alpine and Temperate low
shrubs
Shrubs Evergreen Medium &
Dense
6
Open Mediterranean shrublands
Shrubs Evergreen Open (Scrub)
7
Alpine and Northern conifer scrublands
Shrubs Evergreen Open (Scrub)
8
Thermophilous broadleaved scrublands
Broadleaved Deciduous Scrub
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,
9
10,11,12,13,14
,15
1,2,3,4,5.6,7,8,
9
10,11,12,13,14
,15
9
Northern broadleaved forests scrublands
Broadleaved Deciduous Scrub
10
Deciduous Broadleaved scrublands
Broadleaved Deciduous Scrub
6,7,8,9
Broadleaved Evergreen Scrub
ALL
Coniferous Evergreen Scrub
11,12,15
Coniferous Evergreen Scrub
10,13,14
11
12
Mediterranean sclerophylous forests
scrubland
Mediterranean montane conifer
scrublands
1,2,3
13
Mediterranean conifers scrublands
14
Northern, Alpine and Temperate Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in
ArcFUEL
Coniferous Evergreen Scrub
2,3,6,7,8,9
shrublands
JRC FUEL TYPE SCHEME
Peat bogs
Group
Ground
FT
No
1
Wooded peatbogs
2
Mediterranean grasslands and
steppes/Pastures/Sparse
3,4,5
grasslands
Grasses
Temperate, Alpine and Northern
grasslands//Pastures/Sparse
grasslands
6
Deciduous broadleaved
shrublands (thermophilous)
11
Mediterranean moors and
heathlands
7
Mediterranean shrublands
Shrubs
(sclerophylous)
10
Temperate, Alpine and Northern
moors and heathlands
8
Mediterranean open shrublands
(sclerophylous)
9
Shrublands in Alpine and
Northern conifer forests
19
Shrublands in thermophilous
broadleaved forests
16
Northern open shrublands in
broadleaved forests
18
Shrublands in beech and
mesophytic broadleaved forests
17
Shrublands in Mediterranean
Transitional
sclerophylous forests
14
Shrublands in Mediterranean
montane conifer forests
15
Shrublands in Mediterranean
conifer forests
13
29
Shrublands in Alpine and
the Mediterranean countries”
Northern conifer forests
19

30. DISCUSSION
This work assessed the performance of the ArcFuel
methodology, up to level 4, in the Spanish study area
Within the pilot area (Sierra de las Nieves) a first assessment
was performed, consisting of comparing Arcfuel classification
with the NFI dominant (tree, shrubs and grasses) species.
 The 96% of overall accuracy obtained for Deciduous/
Evergreen classification and the 87% of overall accuracy
obtained for the Shrubs/ Grassess classification are
deemed as very good results.
A second assessment was performed within the entire study
area at the points marked by the existence of a LUCAS plots.
 Approached considered (local sources) containing
information on the specific vegetation assemblages, much
closer to the concept of forest fuel types.
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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31. DISCUSSION
Inconsistencies were observed between LUCAS / SIOSE+Vegetation / EU layers
defining the first levels of Arcfuel classification
 It was decided to proceed with the validation only in those points where consistency
existed.
Results yielded an overall 80% of correctly classified plot which is a satisfactory
performance.
 The analysis per fuel type class showed particularly good results for the Shrubs
(90%) and Coniferous Evergreen Dense class (96%).
 The plots in the Broadleaves Evergreen Dense, and specifically those in deciduous
classes (incorrectly classified) were not enough in number to draw any conclusion.
Validation was considered very positive, but incomplete without the ffield work (later
performed by Meteogrid).
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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32. Thank you!!
Ana Sebastián
Senior Project Manager
Remote Sensing Applications and Services Division
asebastian@gmv.com
GMV
Isaac Newton, 11
P.T.M. Tres Cantos
E-28760 Madrid
Tel. +34 91 807 21 00
Fax +34 91 807 21 99
www.gmv.com
ArcFUEL Final Workshop “Forest Fires: Fuel mapping in the Mediterranean countries”
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